Inner Force is the third full-length studio album from Austria's Heathen Foray and as the band labels their brand of Metal as "Heathen Metal" we'll go with that then.

Heathen Foray plays a fast, melodic mixture of Viking/Neo-Classical/Power Metal with grunting growls (à la Tomi Koivusaari of Amorphis) which is basically a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Going with the "Heathen Metal" description seems appropriate because none of us really want to spend time scratching our heads trying to nail the exact category these promising Austrians fit into.

Heathen Foray often uses riffs similar to what one would hear from such Teutonic Speed Metal combos as Running Wild and Helloween, especially the early days of those two classic German Metal institutions. Heathen Foray's Metal mixture flows well and I like the way the aggressive sections are combined with more melodic parts to get a steady balance between the two extremities. A tiny and minor constructive criticism would be to vary the track listing of their albums to avoid too many similarly structured songs following each other. Diversity can help keep a listener's interest for a longer time.

Of the nine songs on their third opus, my favorite song must be the mid-tempo "Wahrheit." There's something mysteriously captivating in this tune's dark and eerie atmosphere that they have been able to capture. A great, striking melody is another key element making this song a winner.

All in all, Inner Force is a solid album from these Austrian Heathen Metallers. I will definitely keep my eyes out for their future releases.